ganger631
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Ebay distillation apparatus
Hello, i am an amateur chemistry enthusiast and recently i have saved up enough money to buy a set of distillation apparatus. I looked up ebay to see
what they have available and found out most had no brands and are from china. Here are a few links to the product that i am looking at.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/500ml-24-29-Glass-Distillation-Appara...
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/500ml-24-40-Glass-Distillation-Appara...
My primary usage is to synthesis acids and distill alcohol. Given its significantly lower price compare to other brands. It raises my suspension, is
it heat resistant?how well does it handle thermal shock?
I have also looked up alchemy glassware which is located in my country and was wondering if their products are any good? If you have any advice or
experience please comment.
Thanks,
[Edited on 5-9-2015 by ganger631]
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j_sum1
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I have bought a few things from deschem and never had any problems. I believe their glass is generally good.
That said, I recently bought a reasonable quantity of glassware through a contact in China and not via ebay.
There are several reasonable ebay sellers. deschem is one. nanshinsales, laboy glass, ben0315 and interlabglassware all seem to be prretty good.
http://stores.ebay.ca/id=1107631897?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:M...
http://stores.ebay.ca/id=1139589438?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:M...
http://stores.ebay.ca/id=460741242?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:ME...
http://stores.ebay.ca/id=1097494229?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:M...
http://stores.ebay.ca/id=1172388100?ssPageName=STRK:MEFSXS:M...
More important though is to spend some time working out exactly what you need. Both of those kits are reasonably small and you might regret a
condenser that is only 200mm. There are different configurations possible for the still head adapters. Both of the ones you linked have the
thermometer built in. A separate thermometer adapter is probably more versatile. You also need to consider what kind of stand you have and how you
will heat it as well as how you will handle the cooling water.
Buying the cheapest thing you can find without considering all of these factors is unlikely to give you the satisfaction you want from your gear.
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aga
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I've had a few kits such as these from ebay, and remain happy with them.
They have distilled many things such as ethanol and nitric acid with no problems.
The main differences between those two listing appear to be that #1 says it has Thick walled RBFs and #2 costs an extra $9.25 for the pH paper (based
on the postage prices i'm shown).
Don't be beguiled by the keck clips - they break/dissolve/melt eventually, so you end up buying a bag of 20 at some point.
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NedsHead
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That still head looks problematic, I didn't even know they made them with the thermometer adapter incorporated, it could be a problem if you want to
distill acids, if it was my money I would find one with a separate, all glass thermometer adapter as j_sum1 suggested
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aga
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I have both types - one with the thermometer seal integrated, the other with it being a removeable ground glass piece.
Both have been OK distilling acids.
One thing to note is that the seal isn't brilliant, and on one occasion it 'let go' of the thermometer, which crashed down into the boiling flask full
of hot conc H2.SO4
Luckily nothing broke.
These days i clip a clothes peg to the thermometer or wrap a rubber band around it to ensure this cannot happen.
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NedsHead
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do you need to wrap them up with PTFE tape when you're distilling acids aga or are they made to handle it?
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Tdep
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I too have both the intergrated and glass joint thermometer adapter still heads, as part of the kit from deschem. Very happy with it too, the only
time the glass breaks is when I do my best impression of a moron and drop it on concrete.
I have distilled nitric acid many times (not quite 25kg of nitrate salt yet NedsHead!) and use PFTE tape around the built in adapter, which works
great for me. One time I did forget to switch out the rubber o-ring, and it did not survive. The thermometer never fell but black crap was oozed over
the still head.
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NedsHead
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I guess they are better than I thought, Fortunately I haven't broken any pieces of my distillation kit yet but I'm sure when it dose eventually happen
it will be a vital part to its operation like still head or vac adapter.
Tdep, you'll have to take up rocketry as a side hobby to make use of all the KNO3
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Sulaiman
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I just wanted to repeat/emphasize part of the above,
the distillation kits all look usable and good value,
but the TOTAL cost will be much higher;
Retort stands, rods, clamps etc
Heating ... hotplate, mantle, ideally stirrer etc.
Cooling ... condenser and/or receiving flask
later it is likely that you will want vacuum and/or fume extraction,
and vacuum assisted filtration.
I'm no expert but
I doubt that many people have wished that they had bought a shorter condenser
I do not think that a short Vigreaux column is very useful, some sort of packed column is probably better.
regarding heating,
as an example, suppose you want to distil water,
with a 10:1 reflux ratio, and want a modest 600ml per hour product.
A total of (10+1).600 ml = 6.6 litres of water converted from liquid to vapour at 100C
2270 kJ/kg x 6.6 = 15 Mj = 4.16 kW average per hour !!!!!
Of course I chose water which is pretty much worst case,
solvents such as ether would require about 700W for the same rate of productiion and reflux
please remember I'm only one year experience so these are just ideas for your consideration.
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szuko03
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This is good to know as I was thinking about getting one of these premade kits from one of those chinese sellers. However I have been finding a lot of
great deals on Ebay for brand name glass. Sure it is more expensive but one of the things i struggled with in college was the names of all those glass
pieces but looking on Ebay and ordering them slowly is definitely going to teach me the names and what they are used for.
I was worried about the quality of glass from those cheap kits the last thing anyone needs is a poorly made flask exploding. I am also a big believe
in being prepared so I was going to order one of their more elaborate kits just to have a bigger inventory of glass. Good to know they are
recommended.
Chemistry is a natural drive, not an interest.
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ganger631
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Thanks for the tips and suggestions! Should i also invest in a heating mantle or should i just purchase one of those cheap stove(sand bath, oil bath)?
Will it be enough to distill sulfuric acid? Sorry i know it is not related to the topic.
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macckone
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Most heating mantles and oil baths will not be sufficient to boil sulfuric. A sand bath with a good heater can work but you really need flame or high
temp heater or heating mantle.
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NedsHead
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I use a kitchen hotplate to concentrate sulphuric battery acid and distill nitric acid, works great, mine is a 2400watt hotplate though
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Sulaiman
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One HUGE difference between my cheap hotplate and my cheap solder pot
is that the hotplate uses a bi-metallic switch to regulate temperature
and the solder pot uses a phase control circuit (light dimmer) to regulate power.
bi-metallic switches make sparks,
which is not helpful if you are distilling flammable solvents etc.
Since ordering a 50mm pot (150W) and receiving a 38mm pot (100W)
(just big enough for my B10 glassware)
another member ordered an 80 mm pot
and I notice that a 100mm pot (300W) is now available, that is what I would go for.
e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kailite-KLT-310-Solder-Pot-Melting...
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byko3y
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Mark my words - chinese will rule the world soon. Why would you buy condenser made in EU/US for 80$ when you can buy a similar condenser made in China
for 25$? It's made from the same glass, it has relatively good joints. Well, in fact I've bought my condensers for 4-10$, and believe me they all are
of excellent quality, cheaper ones were in use, brand new for 10$ are just as good as those made by Schott Duran.
So we should realize that today a borosilicate labware with ground glass joints is the most low cost option, and nobody in fact would bother making
labware from any other glass then borosilicate, because it's more convenient to solder small joints of the borosilicate glass - it will not crack and
it requires relatively low temperatures (1000-1100°C) unlike a pure quartz glass (1500°C+). Also, the quartz is viscous as hell - you can't make a
smooth surface.
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macckone
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A good source of quartz glassware would be very nice to find but I have looked and haven't found one. If someone else has please let me know.
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